title: Investigation of osteopontin levels and genomic variation of osteopontin and its receptors in Type 1 diabetes mellitus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Failure in self-tolerance towards β-cells in diabetes mellitus (DM) pathogenesis involves a series of complex events that are governed by environmental and genetic factors. Considering the importance of osteopontin (OPN) in T-helper-1 (Th1) cells development, the aim of this study was to evaluate the serum level and gene polymorphism of OPN in Iranian Type 1 diabetic (T1DM) children.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this case-control study, 87 T1DM children and 86 healthy ones were enrolled. Blood samples of both groups were checked for OPN level. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) were genotyped by RFLP analysis for OPN rs1126772, its receptor integrin α4 (ITGA4) rs 1449263, and CD44 rs8193.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum levels of OPN in diabetic children were significantly higher in cases compared to the control group (p=0.023), but there was no significant relationship between OPN rs1126772 (p=0.79), its receptor integrin α4 (p=0.31), and CD44 rs8193 (p=0.45), and T1DM.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher amounts of OPN were seen in T1DM children. It is assumed that OPN might have inducing effects on T1DM development, particularly when genetically susceptible individuals are predisposed by an environmental insult. However, the 3 SNPs of OPN and its receptors did not show noticeable association with T1DM. The power of our study (~19%) was insufficient to observe any significant statistical difference between the groups; moreover, this study does not exclude the possibility of association of other SNPs of OPN and its receptors with this disease, and more studies are needed to clarify the issue.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Endocrinology Department, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Karamizadeh
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kamali Sarvestani
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Saki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Karamifar
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Amirhakimi
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Namavar Shooshtarian
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ashkani-Esfahani
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors / Q000235:genetics; D039441:Integrin alpha4 / Q000235:genetics*; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D053495:Osteopontin / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
chemical_list: C497483:CD44 protein, human; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors; D053495:Osteopontin; D039441:Integrin alpha4